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This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hi everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome back to Work in Progress, friends. Happy Pride. We are a week into celebrating Love in June and we've got gotten so many questions from folks lately that we felt like maybe this week we'd do another Q A. It's been a while, so let us dive right in. Thank you for your questions. You know, some of them are very vulnerable. Some of them are very nerdy and sweet. Some of them really made me think and I yeah, I just love this stuff with you guys. So let's dive right in on the subject of the month be said. Happy Pride. I am ready to come out to my parents. They're cool, but I'm still nervous. Can you hype me up? H dear one? Yes. Here's what I think about that. No matter where things fall on the scale for you in your own house, whether your parents are pretty cool or very affirming of people, queer people in the world, or even if your parents might be whatever they are that might make you feel afraid, coming out is a big deal because it forces you to integrate things you might not realize you'd been carrying all your life. You know, you learn as a queer person who is not out. I also would sidebar for a moment and say people who experience domestic violence, learn this. People who have experienced sexual violence and not talked about this, learn this. You learn to reduce and perform. You withhold a part of yourself while performing like a whole self. You keep something back for fear of that violence in the world. Or if you have very prejudiced parents. For some folks listening, you withhold because you're afraid of that violence at home. It is a very intense thing, I think, as a person, to come to terms with what you have withheld in order to perform. You know, it was something I had to realize even for myself in as affirming a person as I've always been, as a ride or die supporter of my community that I've always been as someone who has been pretty damn open playing characters across the spectrum and knowing that that mattered, that even my own desire to not have every single relationship I was ever in, you know, chopped up for parts out in the world. My desire for some mode of privacy, even though I don't think I thought for a moment I had a desire not to specifically share my identity, I felt like I'd been sharing it on screen for 20 years. Years. My desire for privacy was in a way a protection against the. The violence, the violation of being used for clicks and tabloids and gossip. And it was really a surprising thing to realize that that in a way had also reduced me. And so I share all of that, only to say in whatever way you feel like it's all going to be okay, there's still a part of you that's withholding and there's still a part of you that's required to perform because of that. And performing is exhausting, sweetheart. It's. It's tiring. It takes more energy in the day than a, than a human body normally has. And so, especially for you, be if you feel ready and you do think your parents are going to be cool about it, I'd say go for it. Go for it. Be your full self with your family and the world. Because the. The deep breath you will take when you stop performing is going to give you something I would wager you didn't even know you were missing. So good luck to you and I hope you are met with every ounce of being seen so you really know what it feels like to see yourself in the world. Sammy takes a left turn and says you're always on the go. What are some of your travel rituals and packing hacks and jet lag cures? Girl, this is something I could talk about for days. I still keep a running note in my phone about how to travel better. Like, oh, I might need this. Oh, I might need that. I love to have things that are always in my carry on bag. I recently ordered a bunch of little mesh zipper pouches and one has safety pins, tide sticks, shout wipes. Because sometimes when you're on the go and you spill something, you don't have time to get something, you know, dry cleaned or laundered and you got to figure it out yourself. I have another one of those that has all the tech things I need an HDMI cable if I want to plug my laptop in to watch something on the TV in the hotel. Two extra iPhone chargers. I always have a charging brick. I keep an extra set of AirPods and an extra set of wired headphones in my bag at all times. And because I have a podcast, I keep a set of wired headphones with a USB C and a wired set of headphones that are old school style that can plug into my laptop. Um, I also, you know, for the podcasters out there, have an actual travel mic setup that is always in my suitcase because I once forgot it and it was so deeply stressful and terrible that I will never let that happen again. I keep a toiletry set that is travel Sized also in a mesh zipper pouch that's essentially the size of a Ziploc with all your, you know, under three ounce things in it that you need. One for hair, one for skin. And don't laugh at me. I also keep another kind of zipper pouch but it's like a, it's some sort of, I guess a plastic material which I know is terrible, but here we are. I don't want to use single use plastic. So it's like a white grid almost, almost like a blown up mesh that has colored zippers on the top. And then in, in those I have full size hair products, full size skincare products. Because if I'm going anywhere longer than a weekend where I'm only taking a carry on bag and I'm checking luggage, then I bring full size toiletries. I have most of my sort of toiletries and makeup in two drawers in my home. But I keep the makeup I use the most in my travel case. It has like a zip top that folds down and then that goes just in the drawer. So when I'm at home I can use everything together. But when I need to travel, I pull that out, zip it shut, throw it in the bag, I'm ready to go. Yeah, those are sort of the hacks. I also finally in the last couple of years, after 20 years of traveling this much, invested in some hair tools with European plugs because I shorted out two very nice curling irons even though I bought the converters that said they were converter adapters and then they weren't and then they cost me a lot more money than the converter did. So I gave up on that. I now have a European plug, curling iron, straightening iron and I finally bit the bullet. Here's a pro tip going through customs so I could buy it at the duty free in Europe. On my way home I bought a Dyson Airwrap that has a European plug as well. So I got it at quite a nice discount thanks to the duty free. But that was still a tough pill to swallow. It has made traveling for the last two years so much easier. So that's a big hack if you're at a point where you can invest in something like that and jet lag cures. O I work really hard to try to get on a time zone as quickly as possible. So if I'm flying east over an ocean overnight, I will take a unisom. It's an over the counter sleep aid. This is not an ad by the way. I just learned this from a nurse friend. It's an over the counter sleep aid. It's the only one pregnant women are allowed to take and you know they spend no money on medical research for women. So if we know pregnant women can take this with no side effects it's like gotta be. And again I don't know this for a fact. I'm assuming it has to probably be one of the safest things available on the market. And so I'll get on a flight that's you know at 4pm Landing wherever I'm going to work, London or somewhere at 9am and I will just knock myself out at 4. I will force myself to sleep. I bring an eye mask, I bring earplugs, I bring a blanket that is mine so that I feel very comfortable on the plane. I have a pillow that I like get under my neck just so, so it stops my head from falling over and I force myself to sleep so that then at least I, I wake up in the morning and I just, I suffer through that first day. I drink a lot of coffee, I stay awake until at least 9 or 10pm and then I try to be on the time zone and then coming back the jet lag cure which is so hard but if you can do it is necessary. You get on your flight. I try to book an afternoon flight. I just did this coming back from London for South by Southwest so I'm giving you that you know, nine and a half hour flight or whatever it is. I got on a 6pm flight I was very ready to go to sleep by halfway through that flight but I didn't let myself. I kept my window shade up because I was chasing the sun the whole time so seeing sunlight really helps trick your brain. And I drink a coffee on the plane. I went through movies I really wanted to see so I would be interested. And I stayed awake until I landed at, at 10 o', clock, got my bags, got home, absolutely took another unisom to make sure I really slept through the night. And I woke up the next morning at 6:45, wasn't quite ready to get up. Laid in bed for another hour, not sure if I fell back asleep. And then I got up and I haven't had a hard time and I've been home now for almost a week so I think I crushed it. The flight was tough. I had to give myself a couple little smacks in the face along the way but I did it and I believe in you. You can do it too. And now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too.
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A doubly certified obgyn and endocrinologist doctor, a naturopathic doctor and a certified health coach walk into a room. What do they talk about? GLP1 of course, but more specifically the difference between the synthetic version of your body's own hormone that are prescribed by doctors nationwide versus metabolism ignite product which naturally increases your body's GLP1 by 61%. GLP1 side effects can lead to nausea, fatigue and muscle loss, whereas Metabolism Ignite is powered by plants and there are no side effects. Some long term results of GLP1 links to weight gain after stopping the synthetic drug which has been proven in multiple studies. In comparison to Metabolism Ignite there is no weight regain and this product supports Metabolic health. Join the 50,000 customers by skipping the needles and taking two capsules of metabolism Ignite a day for sustained weight loss with plant based therapy. Visit V E R A C I T Y Health co promo code iheart for up to 65% off your order today.
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Oh friends, I'm just so happy that it's getting warm out. It makes me want to open up all the windows, clean out the house, clean out my pantry, get outside and touch some grass. I think we should all change up our routines and a refresh can be as simple as amplifying your look with clean beauty from Thrive Cosmetics. Every product is 100% vegan, cruelty free and made with clean ingredients that work with your skin, not against it. And when we use Thrive Cosmetics, we're helping others shine too. With over 150 million in product and cash donations to over 600 giving partners, every purchase feels real impact. And that's beauty with purpose. I love a bold lip, so I use the Empower Matte Precision Lipstick Crayon. This one comes in 18 buildable, long lasting matte shades designed to be worn as either a liner or layered, leaving lips looking luscious and fuller. I also tried the Brilliant Eye Brightener. It is a waterproof eyeshadow highlighter stick made to brighten and open your eyes. It definitely comes in handy after long days on set, so amplify your everyday go to thrivecosmetics.com progress for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order. That's Thrive Cosmetics. C A U S E M E t I c s.com progress bom is a boutique fashion brand that curates effortlessly feminine trend forward clothing for women who want to feel confident, stylish and comfortable without compromising quality or affordability. With bome, you'll find outfits that work for every plan on your calendar from day to night. Simple styling, elevated results, and looks you'll reach for again and again and again. Their designs are made to last and won't break the bank. Shop now@bome.com that's b o h m e.com this segment is brought to you by our friends at Miracle Gro. Some of my earliest childhood memories are in the garden, helping my parents trim flowers, plant tomatoes. Just be out there playing in the dirt. We would roll up our sleeves and spend afternoons in the springtime planting together and making discoveries side by side. For me, a garden is more than just a patch of dirt. It's a place for connection. It's a way to bring people together to slow down and spend some time in nature. And I really love when I get to do that with people. Whether that's taking friends down into the garden to pick some tomatoes and basil for a salad we're going to make or having them suit up in a full head to toe bee suit and learn how to check on the bees that I keep. It's a really special experience. Not everybody joins me in the garden, but everyone who comes over for a dinner party certainly gets a piece of it. And I really love that. Whether friends are planting or weeding or just hanging out and talking or showing up for dinner the busy week just kind of melts away while we catch up. We get our hands dirty and then we make a meal together. And the best part, so many of my friends that come over have gotten inspired to start gardens of their own. I get them set up with all the right stuff. I give them the tips and tricks I've learned and tell them what bumps in the road to avoid. And I love making people a little kit, a little honey from my garden. I get them a starter bag of Miracle Gro Organic Outdoor Potting Mix because it is absolutely the best for beginners. I make sure to set them up to win. Miracle Grow Organic Outdoor Potting Mix feeds and nurtures your plants to help them stay healthy and takes a lot of the guesswork out, which is so great when you're starting your gardening journey. And frankly, I'm well into mine and I still use it all way the the time because, hello, I like to have the help and I like succeeding and I know other people do too. It's so fun to watch my friends get into it. I actually think my favorite part is that after a few weeks, I'll get a text message with photos of their plants or their herbs, and then, you know, within a couple of months, we're comparing whose cherry tomatoes are doing the best. I never want to have that competition with Martha Stewart, but for the rest of us, it's fun. You get my drift? It's really beautiful how planting with friends can turn into a ritual that brings everyone closer together. I think food is a love language. I think a garden is a love language between friends and certainly with the planet. And I think when you teach someone to garden, oh, what is sweeter than that? If you want to get started on your own garden or maybe inspire someone you love to get started on theirs, head to miraclegrow.com to check out all of their easy to use products and start your growth journey today. Bella. Oh, this is a good question. Besides your therapist. I love that you asked that because you all know how much I love my therapist. He's a good dude. Besides your therapist, who in your life gives you the best advice? Oh, my goodness. I have a handful of friends who give incredible advice. Obviously, Nia, who's my best friend, is the kind of person who just sees me and she meets me and everyone in her life with a judgment, free openness and really thoughtful questions and just such a level of real genuine support that I think she makes everybody feel safe and cared for. She's an incredible advice giver. We joke, though, that we are both so incredibly adept at political engagement and civic work and fiscal work and, you know, our entertainment work, all the things we do. And that sometimes the simpler sort of personal stuff is harder. And it's nice to have someone who has the same thing in common with you. That's also hard for you to figure out. I can solve a systemic problem much more quickly than I can solve a close to me personal one. So we can really bounce ideas off each other that way. My friend Lauren is one of the best advice givers I know. She's been living abroad for a year, so I don't get to talk to her as much. And I feel the way my soul misses her advice. I can't wait for her to come home. Likewise, my friends Sam and Sammy, who are two different people. Sometimes people get confused. Unbelievable advice givers. My friend Rory, if you haven't read her book or listen to our podcast episode Rory Uphold, was on the pod to talk about her first book, the Horrors of Dating A Final Girl's Guide to Getting Through Relationship. Relationships. You guys, it's so good. And Rory's the kind of friend you want to call when you want really exacting advice that also reminds you who the you are. So I've got a really good list of humans who do that with me and I'm very, very grateful. Skyler, who would you like to see run for president in 2028? Anyone who's not a fascist. Anyone with actual expertise in democracy, public health, you know, the way actual systems of government work. I mean, guys, seeing everything explode from the measles to the screw worm coming back to infect American beef herds, which, by the way, we've eradicated since the 1960s by assisting south of our own border with these. It's complicated, but read up on it. We basically we drop these flies that then eradicate the bug population that spreads upwards and causes the screw worm infestations. I know it's going to sound crazy. It's like, oh, we spent $40 million a year on that. When you have a multi billion dollar, multi trillion dollar budget, that's not a lot of money. When you protect the food sources of 332 million citizens in America and then all of the, you know, live in our country on, you know, visas and green cards and all of the other things. And the people, by the way, who are our neighbors just across the border, like, that is. That is not even a drop in the bucket when we're talking about that sort of money at that scale. And they called it waste Fraud and abuse. And they got rid of it. And now we're like literally at risk of not being able to feed people. It's just those are two examples where I just cannot fathom what we're doing. And I think about the harm done by incompetent administrations. I think about the harm done that we are seeing in our economy and our gas prices and entering into another war nobody wanted to be in. I mean the list goes on and on and on. The reduction of rights for everyone who doesn't look like the president, for women who are dying at record rates since the over overturning of Dobbs, for people of color in our country who are losing their constitutional rights to have their voices heard. And by the way, it's against American law to have taxation without representation. Don't even get me started on the people who live in the District of Washington, D.C. district of Columbia. To be clear, the amount of work we're going to have to do just to fix the fuckups, if we even can, the science we've lost, the cancer research that stopped, the scientists who have left the country, you guys who are now setting up lives and labs in other places, we are losing the wind and energy projects that have been canceled, that are going elsewhere. We've lost the future of the energy race to China already. These are things that will take so long to fix, they will take so much more money to fix, so much time, so much effort. And what frustrates me and what I want you to talk to the people in your lives about is we could have spent the last decade that we have been dealing with this man in office twice. We could have spent the last 10 years building by leaps and bounds. We could have cured certain cancers. We could have become the global green energy leader of the world. We could have taken American citizens who have worked in energy production that has hurt them and their families, caused cancer, caused injury, caused death in some instances. We could have given all of those people the best clean energy jobs that would pay them more, give them benefits, create health care for their families. We, we could have continued to change everything here and abroad. We could have stopped this Ebola outbreak. We could have taken the magic we all felt watching Artemis 2 go to the dark side of the moon and doubled it tenfold instead of cut NASA to one of its lowest budgets, I believe ever, we're gonna have to spend all this time and money fixing instead of building. And that pisses me off. That's the waste, fraud and abuse. And so when we think about the run for 2028. I. I'm open. Is it Pete Buttigieg? Is it Gavin Newsom? Let me tell you something. As a person who was born and raised and lived in California for a long time. Yes. Is Kamala Harris coming back to run? Let me tell you something else. As a person who worked alongside her and her administration for a very long time, both in the White House and in California as well, seeing what she has doggedly done for people, does she want to come back? Yes, I'm in any of them. But we cannot risk turning our political system into reality tv, into wanting to watch the drama on Love island or Summer House from the Oval Office. Like, enough. We have to, we have to get a little sane again where it comes to how we build a nation. And I think we need to understand that so many of these systems that we never saw or perhaps paid attention to in real time, they matter. Each of those things is a piece of the net that literally held up society and I would argue, the world. And while I think we have a lot to add to that net and a lot to build to be better, ripping the whole thing apart because nobody bothered paying attention, how it worked in the first place is not working. So that's what I think about that. And if you are thinking about midterms, if you're thinking about 2028, please sign up to volunteer for an organization that works for good, whether it's the Human Rights Campaign. I'm in one of my favorite HRC sweatshirts right now. Now Democracy Now. If you want to get involved with us at I Am a Voter. If you want to work on a specific campaign, sign up with Stacy Abrams. I mean, anyone, please show up. We. We're going to need all hands on deck. And now for our sponsors. Ooh, this is a good question from Linda. Are there any stories in your upcoming memoir that you are anxious about sharing? Yeah, all of them. You know, working on my first book has been such a labor of love. You know, for anyone who's busy and, and hasn't seen the news announcement or the posts about it. I'm working on my first book, My, my memoir in parts, titled I Will Tell youl. Mine is coming out this fall and I'm so excited about it. I also need to give a shout out book agent Kate Hoyt, who has literally been chasing me for nine years trying to get me to write this book. Kate started sending me email compilations of the essays. You all know I like to write on Instagram and saying, hey, hi. You're writing short form essays on social media. You're a writer. You need to write a book. And I was like, you're sweet. I don't have time for that. And we went back and forth for nearly a decade. And I think I know there was finally a point when I had realized I'd started to write reflections like that nearly every day in my own private journals for about 18 months, where I went, oh, I think I'm starting. You know, I think I'm actually starting to write a book. And here we are. And it's still very scary. You know, it's. It's terrifying to share about things that shaped you, that might hurt other people in the sharing, even though you've done the work in those groups or those family structures to process those things. And everyone loves each other and everything's okay. You can't talk about how you got somewhere without talking about what shaped you, which is good and bad. And I think my greatest fear is to ever make anyone feel embarrassed now about things I used to feel embarrassed about or carry shame about before I did the work to unpack that. I think Also, guys, it's 2026. Like, everyone's just mean about everything. The Internet thinks everything is cringe. I'm scared to share about things that I find beautiful and be made fun of for it. You know, I'm. I'm scared to share about my aha moments and the slow revelations I'm still experiencing and have people be cruel or say, like, can't believe it took you this long to figure it out or whatever. I mean, I. I don't feel like I can move outside of the space of my home without seeing such vitriol. And I have to do a lot of work to remind myself that there's also so much kindness. But the. The world gets off on the cruelty now, and it's a scary time to choose to share. You know, it's. It's tough because maybe if I'd written, you know, my book in 2015, it would feel different, but I don't think I was a fully formed version of myself yet. So it is the greatest kind of whiplash I've ever experienced working on this book from. From pride and tenderness to, like, terror. But here we are, and it's coming. Oh, I love this question. Effie asks. Ashlyn's documentary looks amazing. What's something you learned about her from it? So much. You know, it's really beautiful. It was really beautiful to watch her. A little backstory. You know, she's been producing a lot of amazing sports Content, amazing sports stories. You know, she EP'd pitched and then ep'd a whole sports documentary series that was produced by hello Sunshine. It was on Peacock. I hope you guys watched it. The Rise. It's so incredible. I learned so much about all those athletes and all those sports in every one of those episodes. And then her next idea was to do more in depth, you know, single athlete documentary, every episode, series, miniseries with Roku, you know, in. In separate verticals. She was looking at their documentary space, their unscripted space, and I was looking at their feature film space. And frankly, knowing what was coming, you know, after the 2024 election, knowing that everything the expert economists said was true, we knew the economy was going to get really hard for people. We kept joking. I mean, not that it was funny, but being like, gas is about to get so expensive, people aren't going to be able to afford to go to the movies. It was really important for both of us to. To put our producing hats on and make content that was accessible for families for free. And so I was off making Broad Trip, my film with Lauren Holly, that came out in May on Roku while she was pitching this. And then this got picked up by Roku for unscripted. So I, like, get a FaceTime, and the executives on my movie are talking to her executives, and I'm like, this is crazy. Anyway, very sweet. Felt very kismet. And it was really cool to then hear because I'm. I'm not like an eavesdropper, but if I'm in the room, I'm going to listen to the zoom you're on, obviously, and to hear them say, you know, with everything you shared with us across our pitch meetings, we've had our internal conversations. We want the first story to be your story. And she was kind of like, what? So I knew so many parts of her story. But there's something about such an amazing documentary crew, such an incredible director, you know, going home and gathering all the research, all the photos, you know, hearing Anson Dorrance talk about her, hearing about what it's like to, you know, be chosen to be the backup for the best goalkeeper ever. So, like, okay, you're the second best goalkeeper ever. Like, what? It's such a crazy place to be in and, And. And to watch someone sit with what it is to have a lifelong passion, to have that passion dinged by injury and. And to have this whole very public athletic life with this whole thing happening underneath that nobody knew about. I knew those stories, but to see them tied together, the way they were. While I've been working on the same process for myself with my book to see how sometimes what you go through at home, what you learn by osmosis as a child, the way it follows you and affects you for so long in your life, mirrors into your own everything. It's really profound and it's been really beautiful to. To feel like through this project for her and this project I'm working on for me, we're connecting even more dots. I think it's a way to see and love a person even more deeply. And I'm. I'm really grateful that I've been with her through this process because I. I love her more and I. I think her being with me through my process is helping me, you know, learn to love myself more as well, which is beautiful. Oh, Maya has a really good question. Oh, my goodness. Would you ever do a one woman show like Cynthia or Evo just did in London? Okay, so you saw me post about Cynthia and Dracula. I have never in my life seen such a thing. I. I would love to work with Kip Williams. I would love to do something like that. And I don't think I could do that for 16 weeks like she did. I don't. Maybe I could, you know, maybe if I really went underground for long enough to store up the energy to do it and then did the same afterwards. Part of me is like, I think. I think I could do like eight weeks of that after all the weeks of rehearsal. I don't know if I could do 16 weeks. I don't know. Maybe I have to try. But. Oh, my goodness, what a feat. I mean, just. What. What an incredible feat of artistry. Unreal. Okay. I love the last one. It's so good. Alex, have you ever been mistaken for another celebrity? Here's what's funny. No. And I've come to learn, apparently it's because of my voice. Because even if someone sees me and has a moment where they're trying to figure out why I'm familiar, once I reply, they know, and they say it's. It's my voice that makes the final aha Click. I even had that experience during COVID when we were all masking. People would hear my voice and know it was me behind the mask. So I don't know, guys. I don't think I'm. I don't. I don't think I'm gonna get away with it. Thanks for joining today. This has just been so much fun. Your questions are wonderful. Keep sending them in. We'll try to. We'll try to get to these a little more often. I really enjoy this time with you all. Have a great week, fam and happy pride. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.